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December 19, 2025
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Trump just fired a second starter pistol on rescheduling, and the next year belongs to the agencies writing the record, the members trying to squeeze the process, and the clinicians who will demand real standards if CBD touches reimbursement.
Also, a sincere thank you to the journalists who stayed on the phones and did the work that made today legible.
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📝 DEA rulemaking reality
🏥 CBD standards and liability
🏛️ Oversight and appropriations pressure
The photo op is over. The process begins.
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Start here — the day’s most important development, decoded for impact.
📌 What Happened: Well, it happened. President Trump signed an executive order directing the Attorney General to finish the federal process of moving marijuana to Schedule III. The order also tees up a CBD lane through federal health agencies, including a CMS pilot concept tied to seniors, alongside a push for research methods and clinical standards that can survive scrutiny. It quietly concedes a second problem the White House now owns: Congress just tightened the federal definition of hemp in a way that can sweep full-spectrum CBD into the wrong legal bucket, so the order tells Trump’s own staff to work with Congress on a fix. Behind the scenes, this took a year of pressure and persuasion. The industry got in the room through lobbying, donations, polling, and personal access, with Howard Kessler and Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers emerging as central power brokers in the narrative of how the decision took shape. Trump’s own remarks at the ceremony framed the push as relentless and personal, the kind of persuasion that comes from powerful people who keep showing up and speak in human terms.
💡 Why It Matters: The headline will say “Trump rescheduled marijuana,” and the order does not complete that change on its own. Rescheduling still runs through DEA rulemaking: a proposed rule, public input, a record that can survive a court challenge, and the very real possibility of delay before any final rule takes effect. That matters because the financial consequences everyone cares about, especially 280E relief, follow the effective date of a final scheduling rule, not the day a Sharpie hits paper. The order also carries the unmistakable scent of politics, because the same lobbying muscle that got the assignment issued will now press for pace, guidance, and follow-through as opponents shift the fight into oversight and appropriations. The CBD pilot concept adds a different kind of pressure, since reimbursement turns into a standards fight: product definition, sourcing, testing, and liability. Congress’s new hemp definition sits in the middle of that fight, and the White House is already asking Congress to revisit language it just enacted.
🧠 THC Group Take: There’s an irony here that matters. Trump just ordered DOJ to finish what Biden started. Call it an intermission, or as if the longest marathon ever run has yet another starter pistol fired. But the same process that has been stuck in DEA purgatory just got a new lease on life.
That bureaucracy is where this gets won or lost. DEA still has to carry a rule to the finish line, build a record that can survive a court challenge, and answer the kind of comments that come from serious stakeholders with sharp pens and sharper incentives. A signing ceremony creates momentum. It makes for a great photo, especially with white coats and veterans in the frame. It does not create an effective date.
The pushback will come from two directions that do not coordinate but often rhyme. On Trump’s political right, expect familiar warnings about kids, impairment, and “normalizing” drug use, plus a fixation on the tax consequences once 280E relief becomes real. On the left, some Democrats will say it is not enough, too procedural, or too late, and a slice will refuse to validate anything with Trump’s signature. That cross-pressure is useful to the White House. It lets Trump sit in the lane most voters already occupy, then cast critics as stuck on the fringes.
Here is where Congress becomes dangerous without having to be decisive. Republicans do not need to repeal anything to make this harder. They can grind the gears through hearings, appropriations language, and demands for data that reshape the narrative. A “hospital cost” study sounds neutral. It works as a weapon. And because rescheduling still runs through DEA procedure, those tools can slow the pace, shape the record, and stretch a clean headline into months of friction.
The CBD track is the one to watch. A pilot sounds gentle until you remember what reimbursement means. The federal government would be putting its name and money behind a product class, which forces definitions, standards, and accountability all at once: what qualifies, what testing counts, what contaminants are unacceptable, what supply chains are trusted, and who carries liability if something goes wrong. Those questions land at the exact moment Congress rewired hemp in a way that can make full-spectrum CBD legally radioactive by late 2026. The executive order admits the shutdown overkill by telling Trump’s own staff to go back to Congress and fix it.
So the forecast is straightforward. The next year rewards the grownups who can show their work. Disciplined sourcing. Clean lab controls. Age-gating that actually functions. Low-dose models that can be defended in daylight. The converted and synthetic lane will keep handing opponents easy talking points, and those talking points will bleed into how hard Congress presses on the rescheduling process itself.
And that is the real meaning of this moment. The market heard “Schedule III” and started spending the tax savings in its head. Washington heard “Schedule III” and started sharpening definitions, drafting oversight letters, and deciding who gets to be the face of “medical” when the first bad headline hits. The winners will be the people who treat this like policy and not a pep rally: show up, stay sober, and make the record so clean that even your opponents have to reckon with it.
Fast-moving headlines, flagged for what matters.
President Trump signed an executive order directing DOJ to complete the process of moving marijuana to Schedule III, sending the work back into the agencies without a public deadline. The package also tees up a CMS CBD lane tied to seniors, which turns “access” into a standards question about product definition, testing, and accountable supply chains. The order quietly concedes a second problem the White House now owns: Congress tightened the federal hemp definition in a way that can sweep full-spectrum CBD into the wrong legal bucket by late 2026. That admission matters because it signals the White House knows this cannot be solved with speeches or agency memos alone. The consequence is immediate drafting pressure across DEA procedure, CMS design, and congressional language, with industry and opponents preparing to fight over the record and the definitions. (Marijuana Moment, Axios, CNN, The Washington Post)
House and Senate Republicans urged Trump to back off rescheduling, framing the move as a threat to kids, road safety, and cartel enforcement, with 280E relief sitting just beneath the rhetoric. Trump brushed it off at the signing, leaning on polling and personal stories of medical benefit, a reminder that he sees political shelter in the middle. The result is a split-screen fight where the White House talks medicine and research while opponents try to make the next phase about public safety and marketing. Even without the votes to reverse course, critics can still use hearings and appropriations to squeeze the process and shape the narrative. The consequence is a more contested administrative record, with both sides treating comments and oversight as leverage. (Marijuana Moment)
Sen. Ted Budd filed a spending-bill amendment that would force HHS to track Medicaid dollars tied to inpatient, outpatient, and ER hospital services “related to marijuana use,” as defined by the secretary. The measure would require a report to Congress within one year of enactment, along with any recommended legislative or administrative actions. Budd is trying to attach it to FY 2026 appropriations as opponents keep framing cannabis as a driver of preventable acute-care burden. The definition fight is where the policy lives, because a broad “related to” standard can scoop up everything from intoxication episodes to incidental screening notes. If it advances, states and hospital systems should expect new documentation pressure and a fresh federal dataset that will be cited in rescheduling and reform debates for years. (Marijuana Moment)
Sen. Bernie Moreno says there have been no recent conversations about advancing the SAFER Banking Act, as Congress stays consumed by spending bills and other priorities. He argues Trump’s rescheduling order changes the political math by giving hesitant Republicans cover to treat cannabis as a medical issue and a regulated business problem, not a taboo. Moreno described Schedule III as an “important domino” that could loosen opposition even if it does not create a floor vote overnight. Recent Senate Banking testimony and Thom Tillis’s supportive comments underline that the cash problem remains the most stubborn operational risk in state markets. The consequence is a near-term shift in strategy: banking advocates will use rescheduling as leverage to chase a narrower deal, while opponents will keep tying the issue to federal illegality to stall it again. (Marijuana Moment)
New Jersey Senate Democrats are moving legislation to align state law with the new federal hemp definition and pull intoxicating hemp products into CRC-style oversight. The bill sets a 0.4 mg total THC per container limit for hemp-derived cannabinoid products and expands New Jersey’s THC definition to capture delta-8, delta-9, delta-10, THCA, and chemically similar variants. It gives current sellers until March 13, 2026 to liquidate noncompliant inventory, then pivots to civil fines that escalate quickly for illegal sales. The political hedge is a narrow alcohol-channel bridge: ABC licensees could sell certain intoxicating hemp beverages through November 13, 2026 under caps of 5 mg total THC per serving and 10 mg per container, plus COAs, storage controls, and a required training program. If this passes, the compliance map in New Jersey tightens fast for convenience retail, while low-dose beverages get a short runway that keeps age-gated sales aboveboard until the federal switch flips. (NJ Senate Democrats)
Florida lawmakers are back with a package that would clamp down on intoxicating hemp products, with THC drinks squarely in the crosshairs. The Senate approach caps hemp THC at 5 mg per serving and 50 mg per container, bans delta-8, and routes testing through certified medical marijuana labs, pulling the category closer to cannabis-style controls. The House version has taken a different path in past drafts, keeping some synthetics in play while still setting potency limits, daily purchase caps, and tighter packaging and sales rules. The policy tension sits inside the beverage lane: lawmakers keep saying they want age-gated, low-dose products aboveboard, yet the draft mechanics can still squeeze compliant beverage models alongside the sketchier converted-cannabinoid market. If these bills move early, Florida’s 2026 playbook becomes compliance triage for brands, retailers, and distributors trying to decide which SKUs survive under tighter caps and lab requirements. (Florida Phoenix)
Kansas Bureau of Investigation leadership moved quickly to remind the public that federal rescheduling does not legalize marijuana in Kansas. The agency said cultivation, distribution, and possession of marijuana-derived THC products remain illegal under state law and that enforcement will continue. KBI also used the moment to frame today’s market as high-potency and to argue rescheduling should be used to expand research into long-term impacts on the brain, especially for kids and teens. The message fits Kansas’ broader posture over the past year, where law enforcement has treated THC retail as a public health and youth-access problem, not a gray-market tolerance question. The consequence is simple and immediate: nothing gets easier inside Kansas borders, and the enforcement narrative tightens as federal policy shifts above it. (WIBW)
A Michigan Court of Appeals panel ruled that a medical marijuana provisioning center cannot claim the state corporate income tax deduction for ordinary business expenses that Michigan law extends to adult-use cannabis sellers. The taxpayer argued the split treatment between medical and adult-use businesses is unconstitutional, and the court sided with the state. The decision keeps medical-only licensees on a harsher tax footing even when they operate in the same retail lanes and face the same cost structure. The ruling also signals that courts are treating these cannabis-specific tax benefits as tightly written carveouts, not broad equity principles. The consequence is immediate in boardrooms: Michigan medical operators either eat the margin hit or rethink licensing posture, entity structure, and long-term investment assumptions. (Bloomberg Tax)
Maryland’s Cannabis Administration fined Green Leaf Medical $33,000 after an investigation tied to late-2024 company events where cannabis samples were handled and distributed in ways regulators said broke trade-sample, packaging, and recordkeeping rules. Investigators focused on an employee harvest event logged as “employee samples” without initially naming recipients in Metrc, plus a Halloween marketing event where at least two unregistered individuals reportedly received samples and some products were removed from required packaging and labeling. The consent order says the company corrected Metrc entries and the agency found no evidence of diversion tied to the harvest event. Green Leaf agreed to five hours of inventory and Metrc training for managers, a revised SOP on personal-use limit compliance, and a one-year halt on dedicated sampling events like the Halloween event. The consequence is a reminder that brand events remain a high-risk lane, where sloppy sample controls can turn into formal discipline even when diversion is not proven. (The Outlaw Report)
Oklahoma’s new OMMA MedPortal, now the only online route for patient, caregiver, and business licensing, has been glitching hard enough to derail renewals and submissions. OMMA has acknowledged ongoing technical problems and says no one will be penalized for missing deadlines due to issues outside their control. Patients and businesses report stalled uploads, failed saves, and long call-center holds as the agency tries to triage authentication and ticket backlogs. OMMA says it is working with state IT and the vendor, has added staff, and has pushed automated fixes aimed at login problems. The real consequence is continuity risk: even a short paperwork gap can mean delayed cards, delayed renewals, and a lot of unnecessary friction for a program that runs on active status. (The Oklahoman)
Charlotte’s Web says it will serve as a CBD product partner for a Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Center pilot focused on senior oncology patients, positioning the program as a reimbursement breakthrough for hemp-derived CBD. The company says it will route access through a secure online healthcare portal and begin offering a defined set of products in early 2026, with Realm of Caring providing patient support and outcomes tracking. The announcement lands as national reporting points to CMS exploring a Medicare CBD pilot as part of the administration’s broader marijuana policy package. Charlotte’s Web frames the opportunity as science-backed, non-intoxicating CBD delivered through a medical channel with third-party testing and tighter controls than the retail free-for-all. The consequence is competitive and regulatory: if reimbursement is real, product definition, testing standards, and eligibility rules become the gate that decides which CBD brands can play. (FT Markets announcement)
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From the hearing room to the comment section — we’re watching it all.
🤖 StrainTree is pitching predictive breeding as a workflow tool: cross forecasting, performance scoring, and a cultivation assistant built on a structured genetics library. If buyers start demanding proof, strain names stop being lore and start being records, with provenance and repeatability doing the selling. (MMJDaily)
🏛️ NCIA is treating Schedule III as overdue tax parity, while pressing DOJ and DEA for guidance that keeps state programs steady during the transition. The message is praise with a to-do list, aimed at banking and a broader federal framework. (NCIA)
🎖️ The American Legion’s national commander praised the order as a research unlock for veteran health needs, including PTSD and chronic pain. He also drew a bright line around clinician oversight and evidence, not a push for recreational legalization. (The American Legion)
💊 APhA used the ceremony to argue Schedule III should come with pharmacy guardrails, with pharmacists positioned to manage dosing, interactions, and counseling as clinical use expands. It is a bid to move cannabis into a clinician-led lane that Washington can defend under scrutiny. (APhA)